×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

Jive hails female artistes

Life & Style
JIVE director Benjamin Nyandoro has saluted female artistes who performed at Only the Divas Concert at Padziva in Harare on Saturday night for their sterling acts.

JIVE director Benjamin Nyandoro has saluted female artistes who performed at Only the Divas Concert at Padziva in Harare on Saturday night for their sterling acts.

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

Alice China on stage backed by Black Rose band

Upcoming and seasoned female artistes shared the stage at the concert where they proved their prowess on the big stage, despite what they termed discriminatory tendencies by male promoters biased towards male performers at big shows.

The artistes sold the tickets to the show on their own and pocketed all the money from the sales in a departure from the traditional way of doing business in which the artiste is paid by the promoter who would have sold the tickets.

Nyandoro told NewsDay Life & Style on the sidelines of the show that this was necessitated by the need to prove that female artistes were able to hold their own on the stage, even if the venue was not filled up.

“The concert might have failed to attract big numbers to fill up the venue, but in terms of service delivery, the divas, our female artistes, have confirmed that they are a stakeholder market who can do the same or even better on those big stages than their male counterparts,” he said.

“We have discovered that we have a lot of untapped talent, with some of them coming in for the first time as it confirms that they might be failing to stage performances, probably because the environment is not conducive.”

Nyandoro said the concert showed signs of hope for female artistes as they attracted the civil crowd that came to support them, sharing their call and having an understanding of the concept.

“The attitude shown was amazing. I, therefore, challenge the artistes to carry this spirit forward, probably taking a tour across the country as they have proved the point that they can do it,” the Jive director said.

Meanwhile, Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation minister Kirsty Coventry acknowledged Jive’s initiative to support the female artistes.

“We are inundated with complaints. We thought that was all there is, but it is refreshing to see someone actually taking action to empower women. We look forward to more of that energy and action going forward,” she said.

Artistes that performed at the show included Tendai Chimombe, Sasha, Tete Pipilo, Ammi Jamanda backed by the Rythmz of Afrika, Alice Chinya backed by Black Rose band, Afro-pop band Vedu, Music Crossroads Divas and Caychi.